As the Wanderer pointed out to us, "Francis Joyon, without really trying, broke the Transatlantic record." Joyon was returning solo from The Bridge race, in which he had competed with crew. 

And it was his own solo record that he beat, by 49 minutes. He had set the record in June 2013 aboard his previous trimaran, the 95-ft IDEC. This week’s record was set aboard the 104-ft IDEC Sport, the same VPLP-designed maxi-trimaran that holds the Jules Verne Trophy around-the-world record. The 61-year-old Frenchman achieved the new record for the crossing between the Ambrose Light, New York, and the Lizard Light, UK, without any preparation beforehand, no stand-by period or sophisticated routing, and without advance fanfare.

“I only just did it,” said Joyon. “I was pleased to finish, as over the past 24 hours, it has been very tiring. My autopilots weren’t working well, so I had to stay at the helm all the time over the past 24 hours, while carrying out maneuvers in a lot of squalls with the boat slamming into the seas.

"I set off from New York in a hurry,” he stressed. “I didn’t even have time to sort out the supplies. I just bought some eggs and bananas. As for the food on board, the lads ate it all during the crossing in The Bridge.”

Joyon departed from New York on July 6 and arrived in Cornwall on July 12. The new record (pending ratification) is 5 days, 2 hours, 7 minutes. See www.idecsport-sailing.com.

During the latter stages of the recently completed 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda, the question wasn’t whether Emirates Team New Zealand was going to beat Oracle Team USA — they thrashed them 7-1 — but what boats and format the Kiwis would elect to use in the 36th Match. After all, the winner gets to choose the boat and make the rules for next the America’s Cup, and the Kiwis were the only team that hadn’t signed an agreement to continue with the current style.

Confidential sources at the highest levels of Emirates Team New Zealand in Auckland told Latitude that the victorious Kiwis — represented by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, along with the Challenger of Record Circolo della Vela Sicilia, which represents the Luna Rossa Challenge — have come up with a brave new format that intends to "right a lot of wrongs." Among the stunning new details:

1) The Cup will not be contested in monohulls or multihulls, but both! That’s right, each race will consist of two segments: A multihull portion, probably in foiling cats similar to those used in the last Cup, and a segment using box rule 70-footers. Some rumors suggest that the monohulls might adopt foils, too. 

Right now the theorists are working out which would be the best way to combine the two components. Should the monohull or multihull segment be first? And should a team’s lead after the first segment be carried over to the second in real time or later?

Initially, there was discussion that after finishing the first segment, one team member from each syndicate would have to swim/run to the second boat before it could start, like a relay. Now the thinking is that would be a ridiculous spectacle (maybe a little too ‘beach regatta’) and that all boats should start the second segment together — because the starts are so exciting — and each trailing boat would try to win by a big enough margin to overcome its deficit from the first segment. Wild, no? 

The current thinking is that the monohull segment will be first, because it’s much easier to make up big deficits in high-speed multihulls. It will also introduce all-new defensive tactics to be used by the leader.

2) There will finally be a real nationality rule. Sailors won’t be able to sail on a country’s boat unless they are actually from that country. And rules will be put in place to prevent sailors from becoming citizens of any given country just for purposes of the Cup. This will likely lead to countries’ adopting stricter immigration rules in general, something that has of course been a hot-button issue in global politics lately. Hopefully the America’s Cup will not add too much additional strain to an already contentious issue. Sailors will naturally be able to sail around any walls built on land.

The thinking behind stricter nationality rules is that it will boost national interest — as with the Olympics. "But this rule is probably a little unfair," acknowledged Latitude’s source, "because it pretty much means the Kiwis will have a stranglehold on the Cup for decades."

3) And an age rule! At least 20% of the crew on each boat will have to be under 23 years of age. It’s hoped this will attract more members of the Red Bull generation, and hopefully utilize their impressive social media followings to generate Millennial interest. The ‘youth rule’ will also insure that there will always be new blood with each successive Cup. "The America’s Cup has historically been replete with the same old names," said our source, "and that’s boring compared to new young buff guys."

4) Curiously, despite the proposed return of nationality rules, airline sponsors are excluded, which will allow Team New Zealand to keep its relationship with Emirates. It is our understanding there are new relationships forming with the possible entry of Aeroflot Team USA, Turkish Airways Team France, Air China Team Italy and Icelandair Team Bahamas.

5) Given the immense popularity of fleet racing, more of that is to be incorporated in the next Cup, although our source says the details haven’t been worked out. "The current keepers of the Cup realize that we need to give viewers what they want to see." It was apparent that bicyclists were a great addition, so the next Cup will require each team to add a tennis player, roller derby competitor and a sportfisherman with best catch contributing to overall points.

6) AC progressives will be happy to know that despite the possible return of monohulls, the pursuit of superior technology will remain at the forefront of the competition. A major factor will be to complete the trend of fewer sailors on the boats, and have the team view the spectacle from the syndicate’s technology center as they watch their autonomous AC boats race the course without any actual sailors or humans on board. Google, Tesla and Uber are looking at autonomous sponsorship opportunities. Luddites who have been lamenting the lack of sailors on the foredeck, sail changes or spinnaker jibes may finally be able to let go, put their devices down and just get back to enjoying their weekends sailing.

We at Latitude like a lot of the new rules, but we worry that the two-boat feature might be too expensive for many countries. And as far as we’re concerned, any America’s Cup without the participation of the Aussies, Kiwis, Danes, Dutch, Burkina Fasoese, Germans, Spanish, Indonesians, Chinese and Japanese is simply a Faux Cup*.

That said, the 36th America’s Cup — no doubt to be held in New Zealand — is going to be very interesting. Don’t you agree?

*Speaking of a Faux Cup … this is a faux article. #FakeNews